10 BULLETIN 1329^ V. S. DEPARTMEIs^T OF AGEICULTUEE 
lower surfaces ; leaf sheaths persistent, greenish, smooth, mouth covered with 
downy hairs ; ligule downy, tirmly clasping the sheath, upper margin wavy ; 
auricles small ; culm sheaths greenish yellow, sometimes tinged with pink, 
thin, firmly clasping the culm, smooth, faintly veined, tipped with a narrow 
pseudophyll varying in length from 1 to 4 inches; throat of sheath smooth, 
ligules short, blunt, smooth. The young culms with their clasping sheaths 
are quite different from those of P. nefinii, particularly in the absence of 
the tentaclelike hairs at the mouth and the color, size, and shape of the 
pseudophyll. (PI. IV, figs. 1 and 2.) 
A strong-grovving type with extensively creeping, slender, many jointed, wiry 
rhizomes. The rhizomes soon form almost a solid mat in the soil, sending up 
many shoots, forming a dense thicketlike growth. Unlike P. nevinii this bam- 
boo is subject to the attacks of both mites and rust. A hardy type likely to 
prove useful for many purposes. 
HAIRY SHEATH EDIBLE BAMBOO 
(PJiyllostachys edulis (Carr.) H. de Lehaie) 
There has been much confusion over the botanical name of this fine 
bamboo. It was originally described by Carriere (3) in 1866 as 
Bambusa edulis. Houzeau de Lehaie (7) first placed the species in 
the genus Phyllostachys under the name P, puhescen^^ but later 
adopted Carriere's name. Camus (^, p. 59) uses P. pubescens^ but 
inasmuch as P. edulis has priority it would seem best to follow De 
Lehaie. 
The Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction has been 
active in efforts to introduce this bamboo. It is propagated with 
some difficulty, and although the department's records show nearly 
a dozen different importations, extending back 15 years or more, it 
is not established at any of its gardens. Good examples of this 
bamboo are to be found on the place of Ruf us Fant, Anderson, S. C. ; 
also on the plantation of E. A. Mcllhenny, Avery Island. La. The 
Anderson plantings are now about 32 years old. At Mr. Fant's 
place there are four separate groves, averaging about 30 by 100 feet. 
The culms have now reached a height of 40 to 50 feet. (PI. Y.) 
According to Dr. David Fairchild, who visited Mr. Fant's place 
and made some studies of this bamboo in ^NTovember, 1918, Mr. Fant 
obtained the bamboo from a firm in San Francisco, Calif. He kept 
the plant in a pot for seven or eight years, for fear it would be win- 
terkilled if left out of doors. '\HTien planted out it grew well and 
soon began to spread. In 1912 Mr. Fant decided to start a grove 
along a little stream which runs through a cemetery not far from his 
home. He took up a clump and planted it in the cemetery. In six 
years this clump had developed into a grove, with 266 canes about 
30 feet high. In February, 1918, there was a severe freeze, the tem- 
perature falling to 2° F. Some of the canes were cut back but soon 
were normal again. This is interesting and important as showing- 
quick recovery after hard frosts. 
The groves at Mr. Mcllhenny's place are from plants imported by 
the United States Department of Agriculture in 1909, and they have 
thrived-. 
Tliis bamboo has many uses in the Orient but is prized chiefly for 
its edible shoots. (PL VI.) A description follows: 
Culms 10 to 100 feet in height, 4 to G iuches in diameter, gently curved on 
leaving the ground, at first deep green with a velvetlike covering of very short 
hyaline hairs which soon wither away, leaving the culms grayish, yellowish, or 
orange below the nodes; the second -year the culms become darker yellow and 
develop permanent waxy surfaces ; culms conical at the base, gently tapering 
